Why the Primal Integration Process?

From Dr. Gordon Van Rooy's Primal Primer


"There are many ways to skin a cat," as the saying goes, but some ways are better than others. There are also many ways to effect emotional healing. A particular method is called a modality. One researcher claims there are over 470 modalities being practiced. Primal Therapy and its near kin, Primal Integration Therapy are, in my estimation, the modalities of choice for most.

Let's face it, most who seek therapy want change, not just information. So which of the modalities effect change most effectively?

To answer this, one must explore the dynamics for change both with respect to what the conscious mind and the subconscious has to do with it. Getting the conscious mind to make new decisions is relatively easy. But the decisions will seldom stick until the subconscious has agreed to the change. Accessing the subconscious to get its cooperation is essential for change.

Assuming that the subconscious is in the basement, one can only get to the basement from upstairs (the conscious mind). The doorway going down stairs is often blocked or jammed. If one is a good subject for hypnosis he can get through this door fairly easily. But hypnosis has limitations which primal integration doesn't.

Primal gives much greater latitude for subconscious exploration. Hypnosis is like exploring a coral reef with mask and snorkel while primal integration is like putting on scuba gear for in-depth work.

But back to the door metaphor. As one moves beyond the defense barrier and goes into the subconscious mode three events usually take place: 1) frozen emotions begin thawing out. 2) false beliefs, like worms in the sun, begin to crawl away. ("I am powerless," "I am a failure," "I am a victim," etc.) 3) A new belief system begins to develop - on a feeling level: ("I am powerful," "I am a success," "I am a survivor," etc.)

People sometimes ask me, "Why, of all the modalities, do you push primal so much?" And I answer, "Experience, my friend, experience." That experience first began as a therapee and subsequently as a therapist.

In my own case I had spent the best part of 50 years trying to feel better. When all my self-help crutches and spiritual gymnastics failed, I sought out psychotherapy with a variety of therapists using a variety of modalities. I found all of them slug-slow, woefully inadequate and painfully expensive. My progress did not warrant persisting further. I concluded that I had an itch that I could not identify, let alone scratch. "Some things you just have to accept," I concluded.

Then I was offered training in the primal integration modality under Cecil Osborne at the Burlingame Counseling Center. Our training was heavily based on our experiencing the therapy for ourselves. I gained more relief and integration in a week of intensive work with Osborne than I had in a lifetime trying other methods.

I knew then that it was the best therapy for me and would undoubtedly work with my clients. I immediately began to use it and discovered that for most of my clients it was psychological surgery with laser sharp effectiveness.

My reluctance to primal therapy is in its name, not in its effectiveness. Primal means "first," or "early." Janov applied the term primal to label the early begin- nings of neurotic pain.

Unfortunately, the word primate is derived from primal and many hearing of this therapy associate it with monkeys. Now associate that with the title of Janov's first book, Primal Scream that you can understand why an unconscious aversion is generated in some ininds.

The primal concept also ran into hard times amongst professionals. It wasn't the name so much as the attitude of Janov, the acclaimed founder of the primal modality. He appeared to be exclusive, arrogant and possessive. He sought to keep the name "primal" from being used by any other therapist. Professionals were also offended that he claimed to have the only cure for neurosis.

A final negative comment. Primal therapy's success can be a liability. Early therapists zapped into the subconscious, opened the client up and released hidden poisons. The client felt better immediately. Some, assuming that this meant they were healed did not continue the integrative aspect of the therapy.

Cecil Osborne, a man of caution and thoroughness, pioneered the primal modality at about the same time as Janov. But Osborne emphasized integration along with primal decongestion. For this reason, having been trained by Osborne, we encourage clients not to discontinue therapy until they feel the integrative process is complete.

As a matter of interest, the International Primal Association (no connection with Janov), has spent endless hours trying to come up with a more definitive word than primal. How about Reichian Therapy? Intense Gestalt Therapy? Regression Therapy? Emotional Flooding? Rebirthing?. Many such names are being considered, but the word Primal or Primal Integration will continue to be used for some time to come.

Having spent so much time extolling the modality we use to effect subconscious mind cooperation, I would not want the reader to conclude that we do not endorse other modalities or use them. Other modalities are very important in the integration process. An effective primal therapist uses a wide range of psychotherapeutic tools.


Return to Table of Contents of Primal Primer






















What Will I Get Out Of Primal Integration Therapy?

From Dr. Gordon Van Rooy's Primal Primer


You may not get anything out of primal integration therapy. The chances are twenty to one that you will get a great deal out of it. Each person's Pain is different. Each person gives himself in varying degrees to the therapy. Each person has his own complex defense system which he must dismantle. So there are a lot of variables which determine how much one is going to get out of this therapeutic process. Obviously, we can make no promises nor guarantees.

However, as reported by primal therapists' surveys, patients have seen significant improvement in the following areas: skin disorders, muscle tension, teeth grinding, nail biting, hemorrhoids, tension headaches, migraines, stomach problems, frequency of urination, heartburn, colds and sinus problems, throat disorders, allergies, smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, obesity and eating disorders, rapid heartbeats, menstrual difficulties, sexual disorders and perversions, inappropriate anger, depression, obsessions, compulsions, phobias, paranoid ideation, fear of speaking in public, workaholism, introversion and shyness, social withdrawal, fear of success, co-dependency and the like - the list goes on and on.

Interestingly, many of our clients while in the primal integration process are aware of certain obvious "hangups" fading out. Then they discover that other undefined ghosts are being exercised out of their lives. They are amazed that the therapeutic by-products are more than they bargained for.

Return to Table of Contents of Primal Primer




























Why Does Primal Integration Therapy Work?

From Dr. Gordon Van Rooy's Primal Primer


This therapy works because of the nature of the subconscious mind. Its workings are not all that mysterious, magical or sinister. However, it is vastly different from the conscious mind. Since we are familiar with the conscious mind's abilities we tend to think of the subconscious in conscious terms. For example, when we tell someone that we just experienced our birth in a primal session, they may find this absurd. That is because they measure the subconscious with the conscious rrind's yard stick. They do not understand the eternal, timeless nature of the subconscious.

The subconscious is like a sophisticated electronic typewriter which can remember what was typed and projects it on a screen for easy examination. The historical picture on the screen of our imagination is like the typed information on a computer screen. As the operator looks at the screen, he sees errors he does not want on the original. By focusing on the mistake and pressing the right buttons, he can remove both the current mistake and all similar mistakes occurring from the first page on. Then he types in a replacement which will appear throughout the original.

Someone unfamiliar with electronic typewriters may say, "This is impossible!" Once a mistake has been typed on previous pages, it cannot be replaced without retyping the manuscript from its beginning."

Likewise, those who know nothing of the "electronic process" of primaling might say, "You can't get out early hurts and replace them with positive feelings - what is past is past. It cannot be recalled, extracted and replaced." But the primal method is workable because it capitalizes on the timeless nature of the subconscious.

Unlike the conscious mind, the subconscious lives in the eternal now. This means that all the "evil" that has been inflicted on one is presently happening. (See Prisoners of Pain, p. 148 for Janov's explanation of this fascinating concept).

The good news is that all painful events are now available for us to extract and dismiss. The conscious mind is horizontal, linear and time bound. The subconscious is perpendicular and punctiliar, that is, it is resting its entire weight of accumulated personal experiences on the razor edge of now. That is why we live the original Pain-filled scene of our birth as easily as reliving yesterday's anger in a marital flare-up. In fact, the birth scene is easier to live out because it is uncloud- ed by adult distortions and judgments - it is pure emotion.

The nature of the subconscious can also be illustrated by the analogy of railroad tracks and a payload running down the tracks. The railroad tracks are like the conscious mind. The ties under the track represent periods of time. The debris lying between the tracks is like the hurts and pains which we experience in life. Here is a broken bottle, there is a bone. We come across cinders, cow skulls, a discarded tire, a rusty can and so on - each representing various types of pain experienced in fife.

Now, stretch your imagination. Rolling down the tracks of time is a snowball. This is like your subconscious mind. It is your payload. It starts out small becoming larger as it rolls down the track picking up all the snow and debris between the tracks.

The snowball continues rolling to the point of now. The snowball is resting on Now in Today. All of its weight is on Now. Inside the snowball there are hundreds of foreign objects. The tracks (conscious mind) are aware of the threatening vibration and wonder how long it and the snowball can hold together. ("I think I'm about to have a nervous breakdown.")

The railroad tracks agree that since there is no hope of getting the junk out of the snowball, that they should sprinkle water over the snowball to freeze a thick layer of ice on it. This reassures track and payload that things are hanging together better. The snowball is no longer beautiful and soft, but hard, cold, brittle and impenetrable. People keep a safe distance from it.

After many disagreements and sharp exchanges between the tracks and the snowball, they learn that there is a junction up ahead where foreign objects can be removed. So the snowball rolls its weary self into a Primal Integration Center. It does not take long for the deep breathing exercises to melt the tough layers of icy protection. Some of the heaviest foreign objects work their way to the bottom of the snowball and literally fall out by themselves. What do you know! That object has been in there since the first week after birth!

As the engineer turns the snowball this way and that, other foreign objects come out - some with a resounding clatter, others with a dull thud or an occasional tinkle.

Far fetched? Not at all. Your subconscious is not designed to live with Pain. That is why God gave us tears, lungs and vocal cords to express Pain. But, if we are not allowed to clear our Pain, it remains in us, ever accumulating and ever threatening the balance and cohesiveness of our subconscious. When we realize that anxiety is torturing us to distraction and our very sanity is at stake, we harden our sensitivities. We do this first by shutting down emotionally. Further, we adopt defense systems to hold ourselves in and others out. But, they make us crusty, brittle, cold, impervious, non vulnerable, sterile, untouchable.

When we finally discover that there is such a science as Primal Therapy and find a center, we go through a process of lowering or dismantling our defenses. As we do so, depending on the type of Pain we have in our subconscious, some Pain comes dropping out like a steel anvil. Other Pain comes out with various expressions such as crying, groaning, gritting of teeth, or just whimpering.

Return to Table of Contents of Primal Primer


























Is Primal Integration Sorcery or Science?

From Dr. Gordon Van Rooy's Primal Primer


Is primaling hysteria? Is it a spell cast by a psychological high priest? Is it modern voodoo? Is it a hypnotic trance? Is it possibly an uncontrollable emotional orgy?

It will reassure those who feel that primaling smacks of magic, the occult, the bizarre, to know that primal integration therapy follows a very exact psychological science. Indeed, it meets the two scientific requirements of replicability and predictability. Experienced primal therapist can produce primals and cures repeatedly and predictably. If it wasn't for this, they would be out of business.

"So," you may ask, "what is the science behind primaling?" It took a massive book titled Primal Man, written by Arthur Janov and E. Michael Holden (Janov is a Ph.D., psychologist and Holden is an M.D., Neurologist) to explain the physiology behind the primal experience. Read it and be convinced that there is a science as reliable as the laws of gravity behind the primal process.

It may take some time for your librarian to find this book. In the meantime, let me put Janov's scientific concepts in terms that each of us is familiar with: A brutally frank and aggressive man marries a very sensitive, delicate and feeling woman. These two illustrate the two parts of our brain - left and right half. The left half is our conscious mind, the right half is the subconscious. They exist loosely as an intimate couple. The conscious, logical brain is unfeeling, frank, blunt, while the right half (subconscious) is delicate, feeling, sensitive and creative.

The husband (conscious mind) bluntly tells his wife (subconscious mind) what he judges is right - "That was a stupid remark." "You are hopeless." He repeatedly throws such judgments at her. The day comes when she can no longer tolerate her husband's callous remarks. She separates herself from him. She moves into the vacant half of their duplex. They can still communicate with each other, but she no longer has to feel his putdowns.

A similar separation takes place in the brain between the conscious mind and the subconscious, as Janov indicates, the split is between the temporal and frontal cortex. This is the neurotic split.

Now, divorce or separation is painful. All sorts of strange and excessive behavior result from the Pain and loneliness. Likewise, because of our psychological split, we develop symptoms of hurt, pain, anxiety, loneliness and such. We make many attempts to smother this Pain in subtle and not so subtle acting out. This is the neurosis.

Both spouses may act as though they are having a great time, "living it up." But in quiet moments they ache, knowing that their activity is merely a distraction from the Pain of their divorce.

By good fortune, the "disconnected" couple hear of a therapist who can help them integrate together. The therapist leads the couple back to the origins of their problems. Insight and understanding blossom. Though there are some differences, they are now reconciled and living a productive, happy life. The issues are now dead.

Enough of the husband-wife analogy - back to Janov's science of primaling. Janov believes that primal Pain is not just immaterial sensitive feelings which hap- pen to be there. Primal Pain and neurotic aftereffects are physical, neurological facts inside the brain. Janov calls these perpetually resounding messages "reverbrating circuits" which are endless and self-perpetuating. The feeling and the message ancient in the history of the person, continues to play, on a subconscious level as loudly as the day it happened.

Actually, our Pain is like a train full of garbage which cannot be shunted to the dump.'Instead, it is confined to a circular set of tracks continuing through life to go around and around, stinking up life in the process. Primaling "throws the switch" so that the Pain can get shunted and dumped.

So, to answer the question, "Is primaling sorcery or science?" One has but to read the literature and witness a few hours of primaling to know that it is a profound science working through predictable physiological and psychological laws.


Return to Table of Contents of Primal Primer